Orange
by Liv1701
Summary: A mysterious bouquet of orange flowers causes amorous behavior in those exposed to it, and its effects are contagious. (Clex)


The flowers were a violent shade of orange. Chloe had never seen flowers that were such a vivid color. She crossed the room to them, wondering where they had come from. Could she possibly have a secret admirer? Then Clark entered the room. Her heart skipped a beat as an impossible thought entered her mind, but she dismissed it immediately. Clark would never bring her flowers unless she was in the hospital.

"Hi Chloe, I'm just here to grab my notebook. I left it in here earlier."

"Ok," said Chloe, resigning herself to another quick exit from the guy she had wasted countless pointless emotions on.

She bent down and sniffed the flowers absent-mindedly, her thoughts still on her stupidity for wondering even for a second if Clark had left them for her. She glanced up in time to see his broad shoulders and beautiful dark curls zoom around the door. Her nose tickled and she sniffed, trying to get rid of the feeling. Suddenly a wave of clarity came over her. What had she been thinking? Of course she and Clark should be together. She just had to show him.

"Clark!" she called after him, running out into the hall.

He was gone, so she headed out toward the Kent farm.

* * *

Clark was in his loft studying when he heard a car pull up. He looked up from his work hopefully. Maybe Lex had come to visit him. A few seconds later, however, he heard Chloe's voice. Had he left something else of his at The Torch?

"Clark, are you here?"

Clark thought her voice sounded a little funny, like she was up to no good and excited about it.

"Yeah, I'm up here..." he answered hesitantly.

He stood up to walk down to her, but she was already coming up the stairs. In fact, she was kind of prowling up the stairs as if she was on a catwalk. She looked very pleased with herself. As she reached the top step, she looked Clark up and down. Her smile widened.

"Hi, Clark," she said flirtatiously, continuing to walk toward him. "You didn't have to leave The Torch so fast. You could have stayed."

"I had to do homework," he said, backing away slowly.

"There's plenty of time for that," said Chloe. "You don't have to rush off all the time."

Clark suddenly found his back against a wall and Chloe two inches from him. She reached up and put a hand on his chest, sliding it slowly downward. She leaned in toward his ear as though she was going to tell him a secret. Stunned, Clark wasn't sure how to react.

"I wanted you to stay," she whispered.

Then suddenly she was kissing him. Clark immediately reached for her shoulders and pushed her away.

"Chloe! What are you doing?"

She was trying to lean in to kiss him again, but then suddenly she stopped and became totally still. Her eyes widened like she had just been struck with a horrible realization. She backed away from Clark, staring at him in horror.

"Clark! I don't-I didn't-I don't know what just happened! I don't know why I did that! I didn't mean to...it was like something came over me. I don't mean like I temporarily lost self control. I mean something else had control of me!"

"Calm down, it's ok," said Clark, more relieved than anything that Chloe's actions had some kind of weird explanation and that she wasn't really trying to put the moves on him.

"I'm so sorry!" she said, tears welling up in her eyes.

"It's ok, I believe you," said Clark comfortingly.

Chloe turned and ran from the loft before he could stop her. Clark sat down heavily on the couch and put his head in his hands as he listened to Chloe's car drive away. Weird explanation or not, he was sure that Chloe still had feelings for him, and he had no idea what to do about it.

A minute later, Clark once again heard the sound of a car approaching. Figuring Chloe had decided to come back and talk about it, Clark descended the stairs and prepared to face the awkwardness. He sniffed a few times, trying to get rid of a tickling feeling that had suddenly affected his nose.

* * *

Lex entered the loft and found Clark standing at the foot of the stairs to greet him. He smiled.

"Hi Clark," he said, walking toward him.

Clark had an odd expression on his face.

"What's wrong?" asked Lex, halting his approach.

The odd expression cleared, and Clark suddenly favored him with a brilliant grin.

"Lex! I'm glad it's you. I was afraid it might have been Chloe again."

"I'm happy that you're glad to see me, Clark, but I'm sure I'm not nearly as pretty a sight as our favorite reporter."

"You're wrong," said Clark, and he slowly looked Lex up and down, an expression on his face that Lex could only describe as hungry.

This got Lex's attention. Of course he was subtly flirtatious with Clark whenever he saw an opportunity, but he had never been quite that bold, and Clark had never outright flirted back. He decided to play it cool until he figured out what Clark was up to.

"Are you feeling ok, Clark?" Lex asked as Clark walked confidently toward him, his eyes fixed on Lex's.

"I feel great, Lex. I really like that coat on you."

Lex looked down at his long black coat, then looked back up to find Clark standing inches from him.

"Thanks Clark," said Lex cautiously, wondering what this was all about.

Clark smiled, his eyes still burning into Lex's. Lex's heartbeat sped up. Clark was standing much too close. What was he thinking, looking at him that way? Lex's eyes involuntarily glanced down at Clark's full, red lips. He had had unspeakable daydreams involving those lips. Images from those daydreams flashed through his mind, and he swallowed hard.

"Clark-" he began in a warning tone.

"But you know," said Clark, taking hold of Lex's lapels, "I actually think this coat would look better on the ground."

Before Lex knew what was happening, Clark had divested him of his coat, thrown it aside, and began kissing him fiercely on the lips. Lex responded automatically, every thought of caution driven away by the incredible sensation of Clark's lips on his and Clark's hands running down his torso. Clark's tongue darted out experimentally and Lex opened his mouth to meet it. Lex's senses were on fire and he drove his tongue deeper into Clark's mouth; he tasted better than Lex had ever imagined. He laced his fingers through Clark's soft curls, fulfilling another longtime fantasy.

Clark moved his kisses down to Lex's neck, gliding his tongue along it and eliciting a quiet moan from Lex. Then, very suddenly, Clark stopped. He pulled back slowly, staring at Lex with wide, confused eyes.

"Clark?" asked Lex, suddenly afraid as the logical part of his brain reactivated.

"Lex-I don't know what happened," said Clark in a panicky voice. "I didn't mean..."

"It's ok, Clark," said Lex, trying to keep the fear and hurt out of his voice. "I understand. Don't give it another thought."

And without even retrieving his coat, Lex turned and strode quickly out of the loft.

* * *

Clark heard Lex sniffing as he exited the loft and wondered if he had upset him enough to make him cry. He stood there trying to make sense of what had just happened. It was as if something outside of himself had taken control. He never would have kissed Lex on his own. But he had to admit that whatever had taken control didn't make him do anything that he didn't really want to do, deep down. He had been afraid to admit his feelings for Lex even to himself, but there was no question that he was attracted to him. And Lex seemed to return those feelings.

"Lex, I didn't know you were here."

Clark heard his father's voice and rushed outside in case he needed to break up some kind of confrontation or cover for what had just happened with Lex. When he spotted them a few seconds later, Lex was staring at Clark's father a little oddly.

"Mr. Kent!" he said, giving him an appraising look and starting to strut gracefully toward him.

"Lex!" Clark called warningly.

Lex ignored him. Clark's father was raising an eyebrow at Lex's behavior, standing his ground as Lex approached him. Clark was on the point of dashing forward and pulling Lex back before he could do something they would all regret, but suddenly Lex stopped in his tracks. His confident smile disappeared and he seemed to be struggling with himself. He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.

After a few seconds in which Clark's father looked at him questioningly and Clark gave him an innocent shrug, Lex looked up again.

"Mr. Kent-I'm sorry..." Lex began, but Clark cut him off.

"Sinuses still bothering you?" he asked.

Lex looked over, noticing him for the first time.

"Yeah, a little bit."

"Maybe you should go home," suggested Clark's father irritably. "We wouldn't want to cause you discomfort."

"Maybe I should," said Lex.

Clark's father nodded, satisfied with that answer, and turned to Clark.

"Dinner will be ready pretty soon, son."

"Ok, I'm just going to finish up my homework."

Clark's father turned to go back to the house, and Lex turned toward his car. Clark waited until his father was gone, then ran after Lex.

"Lex, wait!"

"I think I've embarrassed myself enough for one day, Clark."

"You didn't!" said Clark, catching up to Lex and grabbing him by the shoulder.

"I don't even know what happened just now. It was as if I wanted to..." Lex stopped, apparently unwilling to finish that sentence.

"As if you wanted to make out with my dad?" Clark supplied.

"Did you really have to say it?" Lex asked, looking disgusted.

"You didn't do it," Clark said. "But I kissed you. And before that, Chloe kissed me."

"You think they're connected? You think we've all been manipulated somehow?"

"I've seen stranger things in Smallville," said Clark. "My theory is that Chloe caught something that caused her to kiss me, and I caught it from her, causing me to kiss you, and you caught it from me, causing you to think about kissing my dad."

"But I didn't go through with it," Lex pointed out.

"Right, and I think it's because you didn't really want to. I know that Chloe still has feelings for me, and I have feelings for you, but you don't have feelings for my dad. Maybe whatever it was is only strong enough to make you go through with it if some part of you wants to."

"You have feelings for me?" asked Lex, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

Clark blushed, looked around as if checking for witnesses, then put a hand on Lex's arm and led him back into the loft, away from prying eyes.

"I hope it's ok for me to say that," he said shyly. "I pushed Chloe away, but you kissed me back. I figured that meant you liked me."

A full, wide grin brightened Lex's face. Smiles like that were somewhat rare with Lex, and Clark couldn't help smiling back.

"I do like you, Clark," said Lex. "I like you a lot."

"I like you a lot too," said Clark.

He stepped forward, closing the space between them, but Lex hesitated.

"I'm worried about what your father would do if he found out," he said.

"He would freak out," said Clark honestly. "But it's not his decision. Eventually he's going to have to stop trying to protect me, especially from people who would never hurt me. I won't let my father come between us."

"You're sure you want this?" asked Lex.

In answer, Clark bent down and kissed him.


End file.
